The range in decorative arts and the unique technology
employed by Native Americans is truly exceptional. Using advanced
skill and intricate knowledge
of their surroundings, Native Americans across this Turtle Island (North
America) construct and embellish innumerable objects from the variety of
materials. Most of these materials are available within arm's reach or
were obtained in the past through extensive indigenous trade networks.

Hundreds, even thousands of years ago in the Northeastern woodlands and
other regions of North America, the accumulation of too many material possessions
becomes a burden to people
whose movements must be scheduled according to the availability of
abundant resources. Little material culture produced by Natives of
Northeastern North America was not intended for daily use. Yet many of these
so-called 'everyday household items' are ornately decorated with designs
and symbols significant to a peoples' culture.

With technical skill the Native American artist utilizes pattern, design
and structure. Art produced by Native Americans must be defined in its own
terms, without relying on European conceptions of art. Forms of art
may be discussed in terms
of the unique sets of materials, tools and techniques used. By asking who
used what technology, who produced art, what was being made, and
who was it being made for, you can start to appreciate the unique complex
technologies of the different Native American Peoples across North America.

Today, traditions in Native American art continue to grow. The twentieth century
provides opportunities to work in different media and explore new forms and outlets of for
Native American art. New traditions in Native art are continually born and passed on. Native Americans
art is not static, Native People exist despite Columbus, and contemporary Native art
expresses some of the brutal transformations of the culture in the last centuries, which
still continues today.